Tag Archive for Business


6 Coffee Shops Perfect for Every PR Meeting

By Dana Sondak 

Coffee culture in Toronto is booming.

From Thornhill’s Sorelle & Co., to Fashion District’s Quantum Coffee, there’s sure to be a coffee shop with latte art you can Instagram.

With coffee shops popping up in every area, it’s easy to find a cozy spot to have client meetings.

The benefits of having meetings outside of the office?

  1. You get to leave the office for a bit, giving you a break from sitting at your desk.
  2. Creates a comfortable space for both parties. Meeting in a public setting relaxes the meeting, and makes it easier to connect on a more personal, rather than just a professional, level.
  3. Coffee is always a perk.

Here are six coffee shops in Toronto and the GTA that are perfect to take your clients to while experiencing Toronto’s growing coffee scene:

 

1. Sorelle & Co. | Thornhill

Located in a revamped post office, this cafe is sure to bring out your inner Prince/Princess attending a tea party. The interior is decorated with sparkling round, diamond chandeliers, white couches and chairs fit for Royalty. Not only is Sorelle & Co. a worry-free* cafe with a ton of sweet treats to choose from, they also serve soup, salad, wraps and paninis.

What we recommend: Crinkle Chocolate Cookie and a Soy Milk Latte. No dairy here.

* Worry-free: They are completely gluten-free, soy-free, sesame-free, nut-free, preservative-free and vegan.

Click here for more on Sorelle & Co.

 

2. Rooster Coffee House | King St. East

With it’s laid back, hipster vibes and comfy couches, Rooster Coffee House is the place to take your chill clients. The staff is super friendly, the latte art is always on point (and delicious), and their baked goods are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. Because you can’t have coffee without a cookie, right?

What we recommend: any latte. Let them amaze you with their latte art skills.

Click here for more on Rooster Coffee House.

 

3. Dineen Coffee Co. | Financial District

Located walking distance from Union, King, and Queen subway stops, Dineen Coffee Co. is a convenient spot for meetings. It’s impressive size compared to most Downtown Toronto coffee shops with lots of seating adds to the great atmosphere.   There may be peak hours but you’re sure to find a quiet spot to sit and chat with your client or co-worker.

What we recommend: The Temperance Espresso Blend, and a fruit and yogurt parfait.

Click here for more on Dineen Coffee Co.

 

4. Cafe Neon | Queen St. West

This Queen West cafe offers more than great coffee. Taking inspiration from Greek Cafe’s (Kafenio) for the name and the overall feel, Cafe Neon serves as a great place for any business meeting, or extended coffee break.  With tons of seating and a great lunch menu you can please your clients with just a coffee, or a lunch meeting.

What we recommend: Winter Salad Bowl (add the goat cheese and grilled chicken).

Click here for more on Cafe Neon.

 

5. Five Elements Espresso Bar | Yorkville  

Yorkville is a hub for great coffee but 5 Elements Espresso is our favourite.  A ton of comfortable seating to hold a meeting, spread over three levels. There are also a great selection of snacks, like protein balls or energy cookies to go with your warm drink, and lunch options.

What we recommend: Matcha Almond Cookie.

Click here for more on 5 Elements Espresso Bar.  

 

6. Quantum Coffee | Fashion District

This spacious and airy coffee shop on the corner of King and Spadina is a great option for business meetings. Though there’s minimal seating inside the cafe itself, if you walk towards the back it opens up into a larger room with tables and chairs. This area is open to the public during the day and is an event space at night.

What we recommend: Ethiopian Sidama Guji Pour Over Iced Coffee.

Click here for more on Quantum Coffee. 

 

Follow us on our social media accounts for more fun!

Twitter: @glo_comm

Facebook: @glocommunications

Instagram: @glo_comm

 

Happy sipping!

      – Team GLO

 

 

Seven tips for applying to a PR internship

By: Leah Dermo

With the digital age evolving, the trend of cold calling and meeting your potential employer face-to-face has moved towards emailing, online career portals and resume websites. More people are applying for the same positions and employers are sifting through hundreds and sometimes thousands of applications. The fight to even gain the opportunity to shake hands with professionals in the industry have become close to impossible, especially with aspiring individuals fresh out of school.  The question remains, how can you be sure to secure an interview? We’ve compiled our top resume tips.  

White space

Less is more. Allowing white space in your resume is less overwhelming and far easier to read. It allows the reader’s eye to be guided throughout the page, which increases the chances of a potential employer to read through the entire page rather than just skimming a few lines.

 

Keep it relevant

Although you are proud of all of the work you have done nobody wants to flip through multiple pages. While it’s definitely important to include relevant volunteer experience, keep in mind this should not exceed the length of your work experience.
As a PR communications professional, getting your point across as clearly and concisely, is the goal. Use short sentences, bullet points and do your best to condense your resume to one page to ensure you keep the attention of your potential employer.

Social media

Most employers will Google search any promising applicants, which is why more people are including their social media handles to make the search a little bit easier. If you chose to include your social media links, be sure your accounts are not private, otherwise, this step is irrelevant.

Formatting

Send as a PDF!

This is a simple, yet critical step that is often overlooked. The proper format to send a resume online. A Microsoft Word or Pages document may not open properly on someone else’s computer or it may open with a completely different layout, design or font. To ensure that your potential employer is viewing your resume properly, send it as a PDF no matter what.

Save as…

Keep in mind whatever you save your document as, this is how it will show up in your email. Employers don’t want to know it’s your fifth draft or that you’re applying to multiple places by calling your resume “ResumeGLO” or “ResumeEatonCentre”. Try to keep it simple and easy for anyone to find, with your name and the position you are applying for (as some organizations may be hiring for multiple positions), like “BillSmithPRInternResume”.

Remember, just like when working in the world of PR, all documents and attachments should be client ready, and your resume and cover letter should be no different.

 

The email

As any professional applying to a job, you are essentially pitching yourself and why you’re a good fit with a company. Make sure the subject line and email is attention grabbing and showcases who you are through your writing style and your overall understanding of the company. Never underestimate your subject line as this is considered your first impression. Is the company you’re applying to playful and fun or corporate and serious? Your subject line, email, resume and cover letter should all be consistent with not only you but also the company.

Photos

While some may feel adding a profile photo to a resume can boost its aesthetic, others will argue otherwise. Ultimately it comes down to your own judgement and what you think is best. If you do chose to include a photo, be sure that it’s professional, in high resolution, and don’t forget to say cheese!

Spell check

Although you’ve probably heard it countless times, we can’t stress this enough! Ensuring your resume and cover letter are error-free can make the difference between getting the job and missing it by a hair. It’s important to remember that although you’re likely great at proofreading, it can be difficult to edit and catch errors in your own work. Our suggestion is ask a friend, family member or colleague to take the time to carefully go through each line of your resume and cover letter for sentence structure, spelling and grammar mistakes. You’ll be surprised what you can miss after you’ve been looking at the same documents for a while.

What are some of your tips and tricks for guaranteeing an interview? We’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Good luck!

– TeamGLO

Top apps for planning a trip on a PR schedule

By: Elizabeth Voss

There’s nothing better than exploring the streets of a foreign city on a warm sunny day, or having a coffee at the cutest café. Living the PR lifestyle can be a little hectic at times especially if you have what seems like 100 projects on the go; throw travel in the mix and things get even crazier. Traveling for work is one of the perks of a communications job, sometimes clients will fly you out to come work on a project, and sometimes you will have to arrange flights for a client to come see you. Whether you’re planning a trip for a client, or yourself we have some apps that are sure to make planning smooth.

Hopper

Hopper is a great app for planning a trip, it takes the guess work out of searching for a flight. Just select a destination and let the app find you the best month, time, and airline to get the most bang for your buck.  The apps uses an algorithm to calculate when the best time to buy and the best time to fly. This is important for the PR girl because it allows you to quote the client with the best most accurate prices.

Tripit

Tripit is also another good app for business travel. The app organizes your flight itinerary, meetings, and hotel information all into one calendar. The information can be easily shared as a document with anyone on your team through email. This makes it easy to coordinate flights with other employees, and keep track of clients as they travel.

 

Concur

Concur makes keeping track of expenses abroad easy. Take a picture of your receipt and upload it to the app in seconds, then quick add for easy approval from management. It makes business expenses easier to manage for all parties and you don’t have to worry about forgetting your receipt.

 

 

Citymapper

Better than Google Maps. Citymapper a user-friendly route planner. Choose from 30 pre-programed cities and find the easiest route to your destination. The app lets you select a number of different variables to get you the best route possible while showing you real-time departures, delays and even the calories you burn on your trip. The best part of the app is that it shows you local fares for your desired method of transportation.

Saw a café you’d like to try while making your way to a museum? Create an account and save destinations for easy access next time!

Google Translate

The holy grail of travel apps, Google translate does just what it says, with its handy picture-to-text translation; it’s easier than ever to read signs and packages while traveling.

No Wi-Fi? Make sure you download the language in the app for offline access!!

 

 

Toilet Finder

It might seem silly, but when you’re in a foreign country or unknown city, of which you don’t speak the language, asking for the nearest bathroom might be a little embarrassing. This app pulls locations for public washrooms around the globe and finds the one closest to you!

 

 

Go ahead and get your travel on! 

Share your work travel tips and tricks!

-Team GLO

Day-to-Night: How to take an outfit from office chic to night time party

By: Elizabeth Voss

In the ever changing business world, it is not uncommon to go straight from the office to an event and Public Relations professionals have mastered this technique. Being in the media industry, it’s critical to always be prepared, that means bringing extra shoes, a blazer, food, and other key pieces to accommodate you throughout your busy day. All this can make you feel a like a crazy bag lady at first, but rest assured we got you covered.

We’re giving you access to our tried and true outfit solutions for the girl on the go.

The Pantsuit

The pantsuit is one of the hardest (but not impossible) outfits to pull off as everything needs to be impeccably tailored.  Some of us are fortunate enough to have a more relaxed workplace but for those gals that aren’t, we found the perfect way to make the day-to-night transition seamless, no pun intended.

Day: If you know you will have to head out after work make sure your daytime outfit incorporates a white shirt; a crisp white shirt as it is the perfect canvas for spicing up an outfit.  Keep it simple and clean, this will make it easier to accessorize without having to carry around a whole new outfit.

Night:  For transitioning to night, layer on the accessories.  Find a necklace, earrings or even a bracelet that easily brings some sparkle to your outfit, this trick can be used for anything from a company dinner to a networking social. Remember you aren’t married to your blazer, if the evening event is super casual you can always forgo the blazer and leave it in the office.

*Tip: Keep a statement necklace or earrings at work, it’s an easy way to dress something up.

Dress

One of the biggest problems a girl faces when wearing a dress or skirt to work is that it’s hard to find a balance between office appropriate and girls night out. This can be especially tricky if you have an event to go to later that day that is a little more upscale.

Day: Comfort is key, when working in an office all day. Knee length dresses or skirts are appropriate for almost all situations and are the easiest to find when shopping. For a day look, throw on a scarf, minimalistic watch and a pair of classic pumps or booties. A scarf helps to make it casual without a ton of effort.

 

Night: For transitioning to night ditch the scarf, and add a cute belt and sophisticated pair of earrings for an effortless way to bring your day dress to a night time event. The best part of wearing a dress is that you will most likely already be wearing heels, so bringing along an extra pair isn’t necessary.

*Tip: Mixed metals can add some fun to an outfit but are more casual, for a formal event stick with either all gold or all silver jewelry.

Casual Office Wear

Let’s be real, not all offices are business casual especially in an industry as creative as PR. Some of us are lucky enough to roll into the office in our favourite band tee and a pair of ripped jeans. This is all fun and games until we’re asked to attend an event afterwork. For most of us this would mean lugging around a bag big enough for a three day getaway, filled with different shoes and outfit options. Or risk being the only girl in the office dressed up that day.

Day: Keeping is simple and casual is easy, a great pair of jeans and a tee shirt will take you far, but since most events are last minute this can make dressing your outfit up a little tricky.

 

Night: If you’ve been paying attention to any of the other tips in this blog you will remember that keeping a pair of heels, a statement necklace and even a fun blazer or jacket, are your key pieces to dressing up your outfit. These same tips apply to casual office wear. The more prepared you are with extra items in the office the less you will have to drag around with you on any given day.

 

*Tip: ACCESSORIZE!!!

Now that we’ve loaded your brain with information, the key things to remember are: (1) almost any outfit can be elevated with a jacket, (2) accessories are pivotal parts in changing any outfit, and (3) keep a pair of classic heels at the office. Keep these things in mind a you are good to go for any unexpected event or dinner that may pop up. 

What are your office styling tips?! 

Share with us on Twitter or Instagram

@GLO_comm

Five ways to improve your LinkedIn profile

By: Leah Dermo

With so many personal and social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn isn’t the most popular social network. However, what if we told you that by simply sprucing up your LinkedIn profile, you could make an incredible first impression on some of the greatest business influencers in the city? What if we told you there were five simple ways to be exposed to hundreds of amazing job opportunities every day?

Here are some key ways to improve your LinkedIn profile:

1)  The photo

Profile pictures have been used since the MSN days, as well as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. Although some photos may be acceptable across these platforms, we must consider LinkedIn as a professional account. While it isn’t necessary to dig out your grade twelve prom dress for your profile photo, we do suggest choosing a business casual outfit that you might wear to an interview. Once you’ve chosen the right outfit, stand against a plain background, whether it’s a light or brick wall, and don’t forget to say cheese! It’s been proven that smiling with your teeth will make you look more approachable and trustworthy. 

2) Make a clever bio and summary

Most visitors to your profile will decide if they’re going to continue scrolling after the first or second sentence. As a PR or communications professional, you understand the importance of writing, so use this time to shine. You can still be descriptive and witty, but this is your time to highlight critical details about yourself. Just because you don’t have a lot of experience in your field quite yet does not mean you have no experience at all. Think back to all of your part-time, full-time and volunteer jobs leading up to this point. What might be relevant to what you want to do in the future?

Example 1: Jack Smith, PR pro.

Example 2: Jack Smith, Entry level PR pro with five years of hospitality, event planning and volunteer experience.

Your summary should include what your next steps might be, your interests, skill set, goals and areas of expertise. This is a summary of who you are, so try to make it a reflection of you, one that will stand out in the minds of your readers. 

3) Proofread, proofread, proofread

Proofread, proofread, proofread. This one cannot be stressed enough. Nothing ruins your credibility faster than a simple grammatical error or a spelling mistake, almost all of which could have been avoided simply by reading your paragraphs out loud. If you know you’re not the best at editing take the time to have someone else look it over. You’ll be much better off when you do.

4) Consistency is key

When writing your job descriptions, make sure you’re using a similar layout while using a variety of words. For example, if you want to use bullet points instead of paragraphs, use bullet points under each job title to describe what you did in that role. Although it’s easy to get caught in the same patterns when writing similar sentences, remember to change up your wording. This will keep your readers engaged. 

5) Update regularly

It can be easy to forget job titles or daily tasks once you’re no longer in that role. Update your LinkedIn profile on a regular basis by plugging in this information as you go. Be sure to get credit for your hard work.

It’s no surprise that it can be hard to find a great job your qualified for, and will love, especially if you’re coming straight out of college or university. It’s important to be able to showcase your experiences, abilities and personal brand in the best possible light, so that if an opportunity (or dream job) arises, you’ll be a first choice candidate. 

Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and Instagram. 

@GLO_comm

Tech Apps PR Pros Need To Know About

By: Elizabeth Voss

If anyone understands the importance of time management it’s a Public Relations professional. PR like many other professions are quickly jumping on the tech bandwagon for it’s innovative and time-saving benefits. Today there is virtually an app for every task you can imagine. Whether you are trying to quickly pitch a client to a major news source, plan a meeting, save a media clipping or simply just looking for a new contact the tech world has no shortage of tools for you to use. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite apps for your personal and professional life that work!

Slack

Slack is a business communicator for teams. The app is easy to install on android and Apple products and best yet it’s FREE! Create to-do lists and share them with team members, assign roles and easily call, email or text anyone on the team right from the app. The app also allows teams to integrate and edit documents in Google Drive, Dropbox Twitter and more.

Upitch

Upitch is an app designed to help Public Relations practitioners pitch ideas and stories to media. Easily upload a concise pitch through the desktop or mobile app and wait for the media to swipe right to open a chat between you and the journalist. Users can also browse through other pitches for a little inspiration.

Nuzzel

Every PR pro knows that keeping up to date with current events and trending topics can be a little overwhelming at times. Like Twitter’s “trending” section, Nuzzle allows users to get personalized news recommendations and top news stories shared by friends right to their phone. (This app is also free!)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a holy grail app for all PR professionals. The app allows you to post informative content about the industry, search for job posting, connect with others in your field and grow your network on a virtual platform. LinkedIn is also great for keeping in touch with classmates and old co-workers without having to filter through the clutter that comes with Facebook.

 

CamScanner

We’ve all been task with sifting through the newspaper in search of a new contact, new product, or to collect a media clipping at least once in our careers, once you find what you were looking what do you do? CamScanner allows you to take a picture of the article or text and save it to your phone as a PDF. This is vital for PR professional as we can’t always be shuffling papers around with us. Once the PDF is saved you can easily send it in an email or text message right from your phone.   

What are your go-to apps? 

Share your thoughts!

@glo_comm

 

 

 

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